Carrie Osborn, an artist and art therapist, has been working with residents of The Gardens in Qualicum Beach who have dementia.
Osborn said the residents created the paintings in one sitting. She said each of the intuitive paintings were created by six or seven residents.
“The fun is figuring out which side is up,” Osborn said with a laugh.
Sometimes with the painting, Osborn said, a resident would only work on a small corner of the painting because they could only see that small corner because of their dementia.
“We worked with how they would work,” said Osborn, adding that it was more about the whole process. “It’s all about having fun.”
Osborn said there are multiple stages of success with the residents such as even re-learning how to properly hold the paint brush.
Throughout the classes, Osborn said she can see their cognition and behaviour changing postively.
“They come alive when they’re creating this,” she said.
The paintings were part of a display of The Gardens’ residents work. Some of the work included residents’ previous work over the years, as well as current work by residents through a funded program.
— NEWS Staff